Grain-car door



w. M. coMBs GRAIN CAR DOOR Filed Jan. 17, 1922 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Jul 31, 1923 w. M. COMBS GRAIN CAR DOOR Filed Jan. 17, 1922 q Mvn r1 "WQQ N I v IIIMMM ITED sr \VILBUR 1VI. COMES, OF

a'rs'r LYDN'S, NEVJ YORK, ASSIGNOE 0F ONE-HALF T0 ALLTON H. ,SHERM'AN, OF LYONS, NEW .YORK.

FFICE.

GBAIN-OAR noon.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILBUR M. Cones, of Lyons, in the county of \Vayne, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Grain-Car Doors,

of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, 15 a iull,

clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to freight cars but more particularly to the interior closure for the side door openings of grain cars. These cars are usually provided with external doors slidable to and from a position across the openings and prior to loading with grain. The inner side of the door opening is usually boarded up to relieve the outward pressure of the grain upon the outer door and thereby to reduce leakage of the grain through the crevices around the door.

These boards are usually nailed to the inner faces of the door posts and when the car reaches its destination for unloading the grain, it becomes necessary to displace the boards to permit the removal of the grain resulting in most instances in mutilation and confiscation of the boards by the workmen or other individuals, which of course, is a considerable loss to the shippers or car owners, and the main object of my present invention is to reduce these losses to a minimum by permanently attaching theboards to the interior of the car in such manner that they may be readily placed in operative position and removed and stored upon swinging supports capable of being suspended in an over-head position when not in use.

Another object is to provide the interior closure with means whereby when the outer door is opened, the grain may be conveniently removed from the car through relatively small openings inthe inner closure without dis lacing said inner closure.

' ther objects and uses relating to specific parts of the'invention will be brought out in the following description:

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through the interior of a car show Application filed January 17, 1922. Serial No. 529,829.

ing the interior closure in its operative position with the relatively small outlet gates thereon as partially opened, the swinging board-supports being shown as hanging downwardly from their over-head beams ready for receiving the boards.

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical sectional View taken in the plane of line 22, Figure 1 except that the board-hanger at one side isshown as'held in its uppermost position.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional View through one side of the car at the door opening. I

'Figure l is an enlarged transverse sectional view through one side of one oft-he board-supporting frames taken on line 44, Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an "enlarged vertical sectional view, showing the manner of securing each of the boards to one of the upright door posts of the car.

Figures 6 and? are enlarged vertical and horizontal sectional views taken, respectively, in the planes of the lines 66 and 7-7, Figure 1, showing the manner of mounting the relatively small outlet gates on the inner and outer closures. V

In order that this invention may be clearly understood, I have shown a grain car A- as provided with the usual opposite central side openings a, and outer doors B--, which are slidable along suitable upper and lower tracks 'Z) and b"- to and from positions across their respective openings and may be sealed in their closed positions during transportation by any well known sealing means to protect the inner closure and outlet gates from contact with external objects or interference by unauthorized persons. I

Suitable cleats or supplemental door posts 1' are secured to the inner faces or the main door posts; as a by screws -2 or equivalent fastening means and are provided at intervals throughout their height with recesses 3 for receiving internally threaded keepers or nuts 4 which constitute a part of the fastening means for securing a series of boards 5- to the inner faces of the supplemental posts 1, the number of nuts or internally threaded menr bets 4 in each supplemental post -1- corresponding to the number of boards -5- employed.

These boards are arranged edgewise vertically one upon the other across the openings a and are secured to the inner faces of the supplemental posts l by means of screws 6, two for each board except the lowermost. The inner face of each board is provided with a pair of re cesses 7 for receivingthe heads of the bolts 6 and suitable washers 9 by which the boards are held in place, said bolts and the openings for receiving the same being preferably inclined downwardly and outwardly to cause the boards to impinge edgewise one against the other as they are tightened against the inner faces of the supplemental posts 1.

These boards are of convenient size for handling and when secured in place across the openings aconstitute a tight closure to prevent leakage of the grain at the joints, the opposite longitudinal edges of each board being provided, respectively, with a tongue -10 and groove 1l, whereby the several boards may be matched together to assure relatively tight nOn-lcakable joints.

The combined widths of the boards 5 when assembled edgewise one upon the other is sufficient to extend from the floor as A of the car to nearly the top of the opening a. To relieve the pressure of the "rain upon the outside doors B-, the lowermost board is preferably twice the width of each of the remaining boards and is provided with a central outlet opening --8-, which is controlled by an inner vertically liding gate -12 and a pair of outer horizontally sliding gates 13, the inner gate being movable along vertical guides -ll, while the outer gates are movable along horizontal guides l5, both sets of guides being mounted upon the wider lower board 5.

Each board 5 is attached at one end to one end of a chain or cable l6 having its other end attached to the adjacent side of the top of the car, thereby permanently securing each board to the interior of the car to prevent theft, each board being rcmovable from the top downward by simply unscrewing the bolts -6 by means of a screwdriver or equivalent implement, thereby avoiding mutilation of the boards and permitting themto be stored away in the interior of the car when not in use, the cables -16 being of suflicientlength to allow the boards to be shifted from a position acrossthe door opening to a position at one side thereof. i a

When the boards are displaced from a position across the door opening a, they are angles to said faces and when adjusted for use in sustaining the frames in their uppermost positions abut against the inner faces of the adjacent sides of the car to prevent accidental falling of the frames with the boards thereon in case the hooks -19 should become detached.

The frames 17 are preferably rectangular and of substantially the same length as the boards 5- but have a vertical width substantially equal to half the width of the combined boards when assembled edge to edge so that one half of the width of the inner closure may be supported upon one of the racks and the other half upon the other rack, and for that purpose, the chains 16- at one side, as for example the righthand side, areattached to the adjacent ends of the lower board and every other intermediate board except the top board so that when removed from the posts -a, they may be conveniently carried to the right and reversed end for end and attached .to the right-hand frame 17, while the chains at the opposite or left-hand side are attached to the adjacent ends of the remaining boards to allow them to be carried to the left and reversed and attached to the left-hand frame 17. v

The upright sides of each frame -17 are preferably made in two pieces nailed or otherwise secured together face to face so that recesses 22- may be formed in the adjacent face of one of the stripsfor 'eceiving nuts or keepers 23 forthe reception of the bolts or screws 6- whereby the boards, 5 may be secured to the frame when the latter is in a downwardly hanging position after which the frame with the boards thereon may be rocked inwardly and upwardly and held in its uppermost position by the catches 19 and brackets 20.

When it is desired to use the boards to form a closure for-the opening a, the araclrets 2() are folded upwardly against their respective frames and the catches -19 are then released to allow the frames to drop against the inner sides of the car after which the boards 5 may be released from the frames'by simply unscrewing the bolts 6 and resecnring said boards to the door posts -aby the same bolts and nuts l, it being understood that'these boards will be placed in operative position in proper order from the bottom upwardly, whereupon the car maybe filled with grain through the opening a above the upper most board with the assurance that it will relieve the outward pressure of the grain upon the outer doors and thereby prevent leakage of the grain through said opening.

The gates -l2- and 13 will, of course, be closed during the filling of the car and the outer gates may be sealed by any suitable sealing means to prevent access to the grain by unauthorized persons but when it is desired to withdraw the grain from the car, the seal for the outer gates may be broken and said gates opened to any desired degree whereupon the inner gate which closes by its own weight may be raised by any suitable prying means inserted through the opening between the gates -13-, thus permitting the grain to flow out through said opening and into a receptacle provided therefor, the flow being cut off by simply re leasing the gate l2 and allowing it to close by its own weight or this gate may be left open and the flow controlled solely by the opening of the outer gates -13- It will be observed that the inner closure consisting of the boards 5 and including the gates 12 and l3- is wholly within the plane of movement of the outer doors -B, thus permitting the latter to be opened freely in the usual manner without in any way interfering with the inner closure or its gates and that the swinging frames 17 and chains -16- are located at opposite sides of the door openings -a and close to the adjacent sides of the car and therefore do not interfere with the free manipulation of the boards from the door openings to the frames and vice versa, and that when the frames with the boards thereon are swung to their uppermost positions, as for example, when the car isempty, they are over-head and out of the way and thus permit free movement of the operatives in mov ing about in the interior of the car. 7

What I claim is 2- 1. In a grain car having an opening in one side, a frame hinged to and within the car permanently at said side of the opening to swing toward and from the roof, and a sectional door flexibly connected to the interior of the car to swing from the opening to the frame and vice versa independently of said frame, said frame having means to support the door sections to swing therewith wholly at that side of the opening.

2. In. a grain car having an opening in one side, similar frames hinged to and within the car permanently at opposite sides of the opening to swing toward and from the roof of the car, a sectional door for said opening having some of its individual sections flexibly connected to the car to swing from a position across the opening to a position across one of the frames, and other sections flexibly connected to the car to swing from a position across the opening to a position across the other frame, the movement of said sections from one position to the other being independent of the frames,'each frame having means to support its sections to swing therewith at corresponding sides of I the opening.

3. A grain car as in claim 1 in which the lower section of the door is provided with an outlet, and inner and outer gates controlling said outlet.

' 4. In a grain car having a door opening, a frame hinged to and within the car permanently at one side of the opening to swing toward and from the roof of the car, closure sections flexibly connected to the car to swing to and from a position across said opening and to and from a position across and upon the hinged frame and adapted to be supported in their closed position edgewise one upon the other across said opening independently of said frame.

5. A grain car as in claim 4 in which the frame of the door and the hinged frame are provided with similar sets of keepers, and the closure sections with looking members adapted to alternately engage the keepers of either set as the closure sections are moved from one position to the other.

6. In a grain car having an opening in one side, a pair of similar frames hinged to and within the car permanently at opposite sides of the opening to swing toward and away from the roof of the car, closure sections adapted to be assembled edge to edge one upon the other across said opening, some of said sections being flexibly connected to the car frame to swing from their closed positions across and upon one of the swinging frames, and the remaining sections being flexibly connected to the car to swing from their closed positions across and upon the other swinging frame, the movement of said sections from their closed positions to their respective frames and vice versa being independent of said frames.

7. In a freight car of the character described having a door-opening in one side, closure sections across the inner side of the opening, a frame hingedly mounted on the car framewithin the car at one side of the opening to swing toward and from the roof of the car independently of the closure sections, said closure sections being transferable from said opening to the swinging frame, means on the swinging frame for re ceiving and supporting said sections and means for holding the swinging frame in an elevated position.

8. In a freight carof the character described having a door-opening in one side, a

series of closure sections arranged edge to edge one upon the other across the inner side of the opening, flexible members connecting said sections to the frame of the car, and supplemental frames hingeclly mounted upon the interior of the ear permanently at opposite sides of said opening to swing vertically, said closure sections beingtransfera-ble from the door-opening to the supplemental frames Without breaking said sections. In witness Whereo i I have hereunto set my hand this 4th day of January 1922.

V VILBUR M. COMES. Vitn'esses:

1 H. E. CHASE, V M. BILL. 

